As a Marvel Legends toy collector, I’m excited for the direction Hasbro has taken with their San Diego Comic-Con exclusives this year. The sets always felt like they were just gobbled up by resellers who spent their days standing in line just to purchase collectibles that they have no intention of keeping.

But hey, if the demand is there, and Hasbro purposefully isolates these limited items for one specific event, in one specific city, during one specific weekend, for a select amount of people, then I see no issue with attendees trying to make a profit. After all, that’s exactly what an exclusive should do. Put those crazy little hype ideas into our heads that something is worth more than it is because it’s in short supply.

Hasbro’s Exclusives and Retail Availability

However, over the past couple years, Hasbro has been listening to their toy community and have made the exclusives available on their online shop for a short amount of time after the event, and have also (quietly) offered the exclusives at other events across the globe.

This year’s Marvel Legends SDCC 2017 set includes the first ever six inch scale Jane Foster Thor figure that would have caused a frenzy if she were exclusive to San Diego (see: Luke Cage, Psylocke).

Lookin’ good Jane

Hasbro did something this year that they have never done before. They hosted a Google+ Hangout a month before the event and revealed press images of one of their upcoming general release waves that will be readily available online and at retailers. Jane Foster Thor was included, and although she may have slight paint or accessory variations, she’s basically the same figure.

The SDCC 2017 exclusive dream team

This allowed collectors to hold off on paying high prices for a figure that they will definitely be able to get for retail in the future.

While the other figures haven’t exactly been confirmed for any future release, I don’t think the set will have the after-market power to stay too much above the retail price of $99 for long.

Who knows, eventually these collectibles may just become pre-releases altogether, making them more of a souvenir for those wanting to take home something to remember.

A Fast Pass Future for Hascon Hoarders?

Another marked departure from the norm is Hasbro’s heavy promotion of its new Hasbro only toy convention, Hascon. A quick viewing of the Hasbro Twitter shows a push to get people to buy tickets to Hascon, which is happening in September in Rhode Island. Anyone buying Hascon tickets by Thursday, July 20th was given Hasbro SDCC booth fast pass tickets. The fast pass tickets amount to VIP line passes. According to one Twitter user, @chrome_ghost, the fast pass tickets were redeemable anytime Thursday to let the holder get in the buying line. That’s definitely a huge advantage because Hasbro line tickets are typically something that requires overnight camping in the convention line.